Digitalism Biography

German electro duo comprising Jens Moelle (Hamburg, Germany) and Ismail Tuefekci (b. Hamburg, Germany). Moelles love of electronic music flourished even more when he gained a job at Hamburgs Underground Solution record store towards the end of the 90s. When he took time off from the store to devote efforts to his schoolwork, Tuefekci filled in. When Moelle returned they worked together and formed a friendship based on a mutual obsession with dance music, mainly from France. Early in the new millennium the record stores owner started to look for some new DJ talent to play at a party he was hosting. The duo put themselves forward and ended up DJing together, using a unique technique, which was to both listen to the record they were mixing at the same time. The result was a flawless set, which encompassed a rock dance crossover, latterly called new rave. The DJing gigs came flooding in, and with the advent of cheaper CD writers around 2001, the pair started re-editing their favourite tunes to give them another twist. Using the name Digitalism their first re-edit was a version of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.

The record, which incorporated an original composition called I Have An Idea That You Are Here, I Have The Idea That You Were Near, was championed by UK DJ Pete Tong and London club DJ Erol Alkan. Moelle and Tuefekci signed to the French label Kitsune Music in 2005, and released some more singles, but more importantly did remixes for artists including Klaxons, Depeche Mode and Tom Vek. The explosion of new rave with the success of bands such as Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and Justice, helped Digitalism fly the flag for dance rock crossover productions. Their debut album, Idealism, released through V2 Music in 2007, took the new rave genre onwards and upwards with a thrilling mixture of beats and rock riffs.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.